If Donna had been given the choice, she probably wouldn't have invited him in.

Or maybe she would have. The looks, the almost-touching, the not-talking� They were all starting to get to her. They were part of the reason she was taking a bath in the first place � trying to ease aching muscles and relieve some of the tension thrumming through her body.

A bath full of bubbles had seemed like the ideal way to fix the physical discomfort, and to maybe help her forget some of the other discomfort as well. At least temporarily.

Until, of course, Josh had come striding into the hotel room as if he owned it, never even bothering to knock or check that she was presentable.

"Donna, where the hell is the thing from the Michigan trip? Lou said �"

The exasperating sound of his voice faded away just as his head appeared in the open bathroom doorway. He stared down at her for a few seconds more than absolutely necessary before spinning on his heel to look at the blank closet door opposite. His voice, when he finally spoke again, was strained and bordered on falsetto. "Donna? You're taking a bath?"

If she hadn't been so annoyed at the cause of most of her tension interrupting her attempt at relaxation, she might have been amused. And maybe just a tiny bit aroused at his reaction. Unfortunately, all she was was acutely aware of her nudity and her vulnerable position in the bathtub.

"I'm in this large porcelain fixture, my body submerged in warm water topped with frothy bubbles, so� yes, I am taking a bath. It's something women � and some men � do quite frequently, Joshua." She paused and then added, "Did you need something? Or are you barging uninvited into my hotel room just for the hell of it?"

She watched as he put his hands in his pockets in an attempt to appear casual and dared a quick glance back at her. "You know, back in the day, you never used to be so cranky."

"Back in the day, I didn't mind when you interrupted my personal time," she grumbled. Her cheeks grew warm and she frowned at her body's traitorous reaction.

He turned his head again and quirked a brow at her. "You didn't mind?"

Donna could tell that he was attempting to appear mildly uninterested in her answer, but there was something in his voice, in addition to the raised eyebrow, that betrayed him. She sighed and slouched down further into the tub. "Trust you to focus in on that. You said you needed something on Michigan?"

Josh turned and looked at her full-on, not even bothering to hide his staring this time. "No� let's back up. You didn't mind?"

"I minded. I mind /more/ now," she corrected grumpily. "We've been over this. I was hurt, you were hurt, we both needed � But now we have a decent working relationship. So why are you here, Josh?"

He seemed to take a moment to collect his thoughts, pausing and brushing a hand distractedly through his hair. "The, uh, the thing from Michigan. Lou said you'd probably have a transcript. There's some wording in there that we need to go over." His gaze faltered and he glanced down at the floor. "Maybe we should talk about this later."

Donna sighed again and started to sit up until she realized that doing so would leave her completely exposed, without even the slight protection of the bubbles. "Turn around."

His forehead furrowed in confusion. "Why?"

She almost laughed. Only Josh would fail to realize how highly inappropriate this was. But she reined in her initial reaction and frowned at him instead. There was absolutely no need to encourage him further in this lunacy. "If we're going to do work stuff, I need to get out of the tub, and I really would like to hold on to at least a little bit of dignity �"

He blanched. "No! I mean, yeah, the dignity thing, but no. Don't. Stay. I'll talk to you� later," Josh added lamely.

But despite his words, he stayed frozen in place.

He seemed to be waiting for her to say or do something. About what, she wasn't completely sure, but since she was trapped in the bathtub, she didn't have much choice but to try to figure it out.

Part of her thought she ought to be angrier at him for invading her space and her privacy like this. After all, this was her one night off this week, her one opportunity /not/ to have to see and hear and think about him. Her one chance to try to escape all her confusing thoughts -- about them, about what they used to be, about what they could have had...

And then it suddenly occurred to her what a golden opportunity she was being presented with.

Josh refused to leave. She was stuck hiding under a bunch of bubbles. And they were alone, with no chance of interruption from anyone or anything else.

What better time than now to figure out exactly what their current relationship was and what they wanted it to be?

So she pinned him with a stern look and commanded, "Josh � sit."

Surprisingly, he did, taking a seat on the floor near the bathtub, his back up against the wall. He gaze darted about the room, to the sink, the tissue holder -- anything but her � before finally settling on the bathmat. "So� Michigan."

"No. We're not talking about Michigan now. We've got bigger issues than Michigan. "

"Bigger than Michigan? Because I've got to say, from where I'm sitting, Michigan is a pretty big deal."

"Michigan /is/ a big deal, but this is bigger. We need � " She stopped to gather her thoughts and then started again. "I know you trust me to do my job and do it well, but this other� we need to fix /us./"

"Us?" There was that falsetto voice again, and Donna couldn't help but smile, just a tiny bit. It was obvious he was nervous, and knowing that somehow managed to ease her own nervousness.

"Yes, us. We used to be friends. We used to� And there have been looks and hand brushing." He started to protest but she cut him off. "Yes, Josh, /brushing./ And I've tried ignoring it, but I can't ignore it anymore." She stopped to study him. "And tonight. How am I supposed to react when you come in here and refuse to leave?"

"I'm not! And there wasn't�! Ok, so maybe there's been some brushing and some looks, but they weren't� You never minded them before."

"And I don't mind them now either. Not exactly. But I used to think they meant one thing, and now we're different, so maybe they don't. And if they do mean another thing, and I keep thinking they mean this thing, we need to � " Donna stopped again. "See?"

Josh squinted at her. "You realize you're making very little sense there, right?"

"I am making sense and you know it," Donna said. "So the thing is� how do we fix this?"

When he spoke, there was a distinctly higher pitch to his voice. "Fix it? We don't need to, you know, /fix/ anything."

"Obviously we do, because while the fact that we've been talking for the past ten minutes is a good thing, just the fact that we're, you know, /here/ --" She gestured to her position in the tub and watched him turn pale and then pink, "-- means that the brushing and stuff needs to be talked about. This is not normal."

Josh pulled his knees in closer to his body and rocked forward a bit, but remained stubbornly silent.

She suspected that he was just delaying the inevitable, so she pushed. "We need to fix this, Josh."

He stole a quick glance at her, then looked back at his feet. "Why?"

"You know why."

Josh ran a hand through his hair and finally looked over to meet her eyes. "Because there's been brushing and you want to know what it means?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"See, I don't think we /do/ need to talk about it. Because obviously the brushing, as you so quaintly put it, means the same thing it's always meant and why do we need to �" Josh broke off and pointed at something beyond her left shoulder. "What the hell is that?"

Donna was momentarily distracted by the unexpected question. When she looked over her shoulder, all she saw was the smiling face of Mr. Bubble on the bright pink bottle of bubble bath. "What?"

"That," he said, pointing. "Isn't that for, you know, children?"

"How would you know?" Donna countered, blushing a little.

"The big smiley face on the bottle kind of gives it away," he pointed out.

"It's good for sensitive skin," she said, a bit defensively.

"And your alabaster skin is sensitive," Josh completed, almost more to himself than to her.

Donna was surprised that he even remembered, but she bit her lip to keep from acknowledging that she had heard him.

He continued on, "I know. That doesn't explain why you have children's bubble bath instead of some fancy womanly� thing."

"I like Mr. Bubble," Donna insisted.

"Yeah, you seem to like a lot of weird things," Josh mumbled.

Donna tried to read his expression, but his eyes were once again turned away from her and she couldn't. He sounded almost like he thought she didn't like /him/. And while it was true that she was irritated at his behavior right now, she couldn't remember a time when she hadn't liked him, at least on some level.

"Including you," she admitted softly. "Which is why the brushing and the� What are we, Josh? Are we co-workers? Friends?" She took a deep breath. "More?"

He stared at her. "God, Donna, you have to ask? You don't know? Because I would have thought �"He stopped and Donna suddenly realized that he didn't sound disbelieving or defensive. He sounded sad. And maybe a little bit of lonely.

"I have a guess, but no, I don't know. I used to think I did, but we've been so different this past year that I don't know anything anymore," Donna said, her hands twisting together underneath the cover of the quickly fading bubbles.

"It�You� We�" Josh blew out a frustrated breath. "Forget it."

"No. This� we have to stop doing this. We always do this and it never gets us anywhere. What am I to you, Josh?"

He stared at her wordlessly, for a long time. Then, quickly and without even bothering about getting wet, Josh rose to his knees and plunged his hands into the water on either side of her.

She didn't know what she expected next, but it certainly wasn't the soft, gentle, exploratory kiss that he gave her. His lips barely brushed against hers, once, twice, before settling more firmly against her mouth and exerting the smallest bit of pressure. It was as if he was almost afraid of scaring her away if he dared to kiss her any harder.

Donna wasn't sure that was possible. Once the idea of Josh kissing her -- really kissing her, and not just giving her a friendly peck -- registered, she couldn't stop wanting more. Maybe this didn't answer her question completely, but it was a start. And a start was all she needed. So she parted her lips and slid her tongue against his lower lip in silent invitation.

The change in the cadence of the kiss was immediate. It became hotter, bolder. Donna forgot who had initiated what -- It didn't matter. All that mattered was the he was here and they were together and maybe, just maybe, this was a new beginning for them. That hope made her bold and she snaked her arms around his neck, wanting to pull him closer.

The move had the opposite effect. Instead of leaning into her embrace, Josh broke away from her and rocked back on his heels.

Mortified, she sank back down into the bubbles and willed her features into a neutral expression. Something was going on here, something important that she didn't quite understand, but that she was determined to figure out.

"Josh?"

"That probably wasn't a very smart thing for me to do," he finally muttered, lifting a hand and running it distractedly through his hair. His eyes were once again trained on the floor and Donna couldn't even imagine what he was thinking.

Tentatively, she reached out and brushed her fingers against the back of his hand. "It wasn't an un-smart thing either."

Silently, he turned his hand and twined his fingers with hers. When he finally looked at her, his expression was hopeful. "Yeah?"

"Yes." Donna nodded. Then, with a wary smile, she repeated her question from earlier. "What am I to you?"

He blew out a frustrated breath. "God! You're� you're everything," he whispered fiercely.

It was all the answer Donna needed. She tugged at his shirtfront and pulled him towards her for another kiss.

There wasn't any hesitation this time. The kiss was deep and passionate from the start � hot, wet, needy, all lips and tongues and teeth. Finesse disappeared and desperation took over. Nothing existed outside of the two of them.

Until Josh's muffled groan intruded, conveying anything but passion.

She pulled back instantly, afraid that she had somehow hurt him. He didn't seem hurt, though. The only things she noticed were the dark, wet splotches she had left on the front of his crumpled shirt and the vaguely sheepish expression on his face.

He rocked back on his heels with another little groan. "I am way too old for this."

She frowned in confusion. "Kissing?"

"Kneeling on a hard, tiled floor for an extended period of time," he corrected, with a look that dared her to make any jokes about his age. "I am definitely /not/ too old for kissing."

"No, you aren't," she agreed with a smile. She sat up straighter and leaned over to skim her hand over the wet patches on his shirt. Her hand continued trailing down until it rested against his thigh. "I got your shirt all wet."

It was supposed to be an apology of sorts, but the husky timbre of her voice conveyed anything but.

He quirked a brow at her and a small smirk appeared. "I think that had something to do with all the clutching and grabbing."

"I didn't clutch! Ok, maybe I did, but you didn't seem to mind," Donna pouted.

"I don't really, but having your boss leave your suite in a wet dress shirt, with an obvious erection, probably won't look too good to any of the staffers hanging around in the hallway."

"Technically, you're not my boss," Donna corrected, smiling broadly at him. "Lou is. And I have a solution for the wet clothes. Something that may help with the other, too."

Josh lips turned up in a playful grin. "Oh yeah?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Take them off, baby."

The words were barely out of her mouth before Josh began working at the buttons of his shirt and peeling it and his white undershirt off. Shoes, socks and pants quickly followed.

She couldn't look away. God, had he always been like this? His arms, his shoulders, his chest, the pale puckered scars -- every inch of skin he revealed excited her. Even the little paunch of his belly was turning her on. And then there was /him/, all male and hard and� wow. How had she been able to resist this for all those years?

The answer was simple, of course. Still� her eyes feasted on him, taking in all the details of the things she hadn't had the courage to reach out and take years ago.

Donna was so lost her perusal of his body that it took a moment for her to realize he was asking her something. Reluctantly, she pulled her eyes away and looked up into his smirking face. "I... um� what?"

"Little trouble concentrating there, Donnatella?" Josh asked.

She made a face, refusing to be distracted by him again - standing there so smugly, hands on hips, erection proudly jutting forward. "Just shut up and get in the tub."

"Right." He stared down at her for a long minute. "Which is why I asked: How, exactly?"

"Haven�t you ever shared a bath before? No� wait. Don't answer that. Just wait a second." She pulled her knees in close to her chest and scooted forward. "Now you can get in."

Gingerly, he did, settling his body behind hers. It was awkward at first, as he tried to find the ideal way fit his legs in. Eventually, though, he stretched them out on either side of her hips and wrapped his arms tight around her. She snuggled into his embrace, enjoying the feel of his muscular legs against her smooth skin, and the feel of his arms brushing against the undersides of her breasts.

She heard him sigh and tilted her head sideways so she could glimpse his face. He looked relaxed and even somewhat happy � more so than she had seen him in the past six months.

"This is nice," she said, the smile on her face coming through clearly in her words.

"It could be nicer," Josh answered. She felt the rumble of his words all the way through her body, leaving her quivering in anticipation. He didn't make her wait very long to see what he had in mind, though.

His hands came up to cup her breasts, his warm, wet, palms sliding sensually against the full mounds, his fingers lingering over her hardened nipples. Meanwhile, his mouth descended to her shoulder, lavishing hot, open-mouthed kisses on the damp skin there.

The combination of the two sent delicious waves of heat throughout her body. It pooled low in her belly, making her ache for more.

"I should� I need to get up," Donna muttered, reluctantly stilling his roaming hands.

He stiffened and she turned her head to reassure him with a soft kiss. "So I can turn around."

His expression cleared and he grinned. "Ah. Excellent."

"I thought so," she teased as she pulled her legs in and then gracefully stood and turned. She was about to settle back into the water, but Josh stopped her before she could, his hands cupping her ass and keeping her standing in place above him.

When she glanced down questioningly, he smiled and placed his lips against the damp flesh of her thigh in a wet kiss. She shivered in response and he pulled away a little. "Is this ok?"

"Yeah�it's� yes," she answered, smiling down at him.

She was rewarded with a quick grin and then he was kissing her thigh again, sending a liquid heat pulsing through her veins. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the cool tile wall, concentrating on the feel of his mouth against her skin. It was hot and wet, and when he reached the apex of her thighs to lick at her center, she let out a little squeak. He chuckled and licked her again.

"Please tell me that there's more," she managed to say between pants as his mouth continued to tease her heated flesh.

"Definitely," he mumbled. He moved up further and licked her clit, then sucked on it, causing her to shudder and sag heavily against the wall.

"Josh� I need� I want�"

"Hmmm?"

It was the hum that sent her over the edge. It wasn't a question so much as an arrogant acknowledgement that he knew the effect he was having on her. And affect her he did. With a loud moan she came, her muscles tightening and sending shockwaves of pleasure coursing through her body.

As soon as she'd recovered enough strength to push away from the wall, she opened her eyes and noticed that he was looking up at her with an unreadable expression on his face. She was about to ask him what it meant when her glance moved lower and she noticed his straining erection.

"We should do something about that," she blurted.

Josh laughed and tugged on her hand to get her settled across his thighs. "But first�"

And then he was leaning forward and kissing her, his mouth covering hers. He tasted musky, like her, but she didn�t care. Because it was Josh and all she could concentrate on was him - his mouth and his hands, touching, tasting, teasing, bringing her a different, but just as intense, pleasure.

She moved aside slightly and grasped him in her hand, sliding her fingers over the firm flesh of his cock. He stifled a groan and stilled her hand. "No, not� I want to be inside you."

She grinned and lifted her hips to position him at her opening. Without hesitation he plunged inside and they both gasped.

Neither moved for a long moment. Then he shifted against her while slipping his hand between her thighs. The world was reduced to pure sensation as his talented fingers and hard cock moved in tandem to bring her to another shattering orgasm.

She was just coming down from her sensual high when she felt him stiffen. "I can't� I need� Donnnnna! Ohgodohgod� ohhhh�"

She felt a rush of warmth as he came and then he was leaning heavily against her, his faced buried in her neck.

"I need you so damn much," he blurted, his voice cracking. "And you left me. You left me and I couldn't�"

Tears formed in her eyes and she clung to him. "I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. Not like that."

"Don't ever leave me again," he whispered hoarsely.

She rocked against him. "I won't. I promise," she vowed.

Her lips searched out his shoulder, his neck, his jaw and then finally his mouth, promising him with actions what she had just promised with words. He kissed her back hungrily, his arms tightening around her. "Never again."

They stayed like that, each clinging to the other, letting their tears and kisses heal the rest of their past hurts, until she pulled back a little. Donna offered him a watery smile.

"Would it be considered leaving if I said I wanted to get out of this tub?" she asked tentatively.

"No. I should go. Let you sleep or� Yeah." He shifted and lifted her off of him so he could get out of the bath.

She reached out to stop him, grasping his hand tightly in hers. "Josh?"

He glanced at their joined hands and then back at her face. "You're freakishly strong, you know that?"

"I do know that," she conceded, smiling, because he was trying so hard to not to be disappointed, though he clearly was. "But� I promised and I meant it. You should stay. Sleep here with me."

His expression softened. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Ok." And then still holding her hand in his, he pulled her from the tub and led her to the bed.

~End~